This invention relates to visual displays and, in particular, to displays enabling variation of the relationship between brightness and viewing angle.
It is well-known that in connection with any flat screen display, there is a relationship between the perceived brightness of the display and the viewing angle relative to the plane of the flat screen. This variation can be of value or a disadvantage, depending upon circumstances. Thus, in connection with a retro-reflective beaded cinema screen, the relatively narrow angle over which a satisfactorily bright image may be seen forces the design of narrower cinemas deeper from front to back, which may not always be the best use of space. On the other hand, in applications where the information to be displayed on screen may be needing to be kept secure, for example on the screen of a video display unit, it may be desirable to ensure that the image displayed on the screen can only be seen over a highly restricted range of viewing angles, usually only if the viewer's eyes are in a relatively narrow angled cone having its axis normal to the plane of the screen.
It is well-known to provide security screens for fitting over cathode ray tube displays. These consist of a screen incorporating some form of louvre, the components of the louvre running essentially in planes normal to the plane of the screen. The louvre may consist of a plurality of parallel planes in which case the restriction in viewing angle will apply, e.g. horizontally but not vertically or vice versa, or it may consist of a set of cells, e.g. formed by the notional intersection of two sets of orthogonal louvre panels, or, for example, the louvre may take the form of a honeycomb type construction.
In all such cases, the restriction on viewing angle imparted by the louvre type screen is permanent and invariable once the screen has been placed over the face of the display. While, in many cases, this may be entirely satisfactory, equally it is often not satisfactory at all.
In a screen display system is disclosed in which the range of viewing angles can be altered by the use of a screen which has an actuatable louvre. When unactuated, the screen is transparent and the display screen which it overlies can accordingly be viewed from a relatively wide range of viewing angles. If the actuatable louvre screen is actuated, on the other hand, planes within the screen running substantially perpendicular to the display screen are rendered opaque, and accordingly the display screen can only be viewed when those planes are substantially edge on to the observer. Thus, by simply actuating this type of louvre screen, the display viewing angle may be varied from wide to narrow and vice versa. Such a actuatable louvre screen is described in more detail in the above-noted application, and may be straightforwardly constructed using standard liquid crystal display technology.
One of the disadvantages of the system proposed in EP-A-0802684 is that the louvre screen must be placed over the display, which inevitably reduces the brightness of that display. This is naturally disadvantageous.
The problem underlying the invention is to produce a variable viewing angle display which does not suffer from the disadvantages of the prior suggestions.